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Clare, Solicitor

Category: Law

Satisfied Customers: 33323

Experience: I have been a solicitor in High Street Practice since 1985 with a wide general experience.

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I am about to go to an FDR in 2 weeks divorce. My husband

Customer Question

I am about to go to an FDR in 2 weeks for my divorce. My husband has not revealed 6 accounts with significant savings. I know sort code and account numbers. I asked about them at questionnaire and he said they were closed but he didn't provide closing statements. What is the next step ? The sums are important and I have also seen evidence, papers and emails that these accounts were open at the time of separation a year ago.

HiThen you should write to his solicitor pointing out that the closing statements have not been supplied and that without them the next hearing will not be effective.State that unless they are supplied you will bring your letter to the attention of the Court and claim the wasted costsPlease ask if you need further detailsClare

Already done this but he insists on going to FDR without providing information about the accounts or closing statements.

Can I adjourn the FDR unilaterally without his approval to postpone it?

Most importantly what should I say at the FDR and what should I do ?

Can i ask at the FDR the court to order him to show balance and/or closing statements for these accounts as I know sort codes and account numbers.

I am pretty sure my husband wants to go to final trial to bring me down with the legal costs and force me to accept all he demands.

What do I need to do to ensure at least that at the FDR the judge orders him to reveal balances of these accounts or closing statemetns?

Also should I reveal at the FDR the sort codes and account numbers as I didn't do so at the questionnaire only left the question open mentioning the bank name.

I know that due to regulations banks need to keep account details closed or not for 6 years.

Can the court order him at the FDR to reveal these accounts and what if he refuses and we go to final trial and he still hasn't provided closing statements (imposible to do as then thee accountss were open) or balances?

What if he only partially reveals balancces from a year after the separation when the funds were already moved else where.

Does the court have the power in the simple case of known accounts not disclosed to order them that they do and what are the penalties if someone doesn't respect that?

An FDR order wher the FDR judge orders him to reveal those balances means I can sleep reassured that I won't at least be forced to final trial without this money being added to the asset pool ?

Some accounts we opened together, he opened with the same institution as me to get advantage of teh rates. Also there has been emmail arriving during our marriage and tax certificates as both me and him where doing our tax returns.

Why do I have to justify how I know of the account numbers?

in his answer he didn't even explicitly denied they existed, only that they were closed some time ago.

Also, our papers for the tax return were placed together in two folders next to each other in my office and he didn't get those when he left.

They are old tax returns from 2008 and just have the tax certificates from these accounts which I already knew about anyway.

Also, for instance one of them was set up as a payee when I transferred money to him.

HiUnfortunately it is very relevant to how you approach the issue.To be clear - were the details freely available to you in the normal course of your life - in the same way that the Tax certificates were?Clare

we were married so we opened each other's mail and we knew each other's accounts.

some of these accounts I opened myself the same time he opened his to take advantage of the good rate.

What are my alternatives?

I realise that my question is actually the following.

Knowing that my husband will not cooperate no matter what letters etc I write what is the right strategic action in terms of legal actions !

What are teh powers of the court?

I know in greece the court can order that he oopens these accounts since I know sort codes and account numbers and also there is no bankruptcy or they are not offshore accounts etc. Just standard uk accounts.

I also know because i work in banks that it is a regulatory requirement for the banks to keep all details of these accounts for 6 years so he can't claim these records etc don't exist or he can't get them.

I am trying to udnerstand what are the powers of the courts in UK.

Do they have sijmilar powers or is it in reality that there is no way to force someone to disclose accounts if he doesn't do so himself.

In essence, I suspect that my husband having had cllose friends and family to advise him they told him that there is nothing i can do if he decides not to disclose these heavy in savings accounts.

So he didn't disclose them and he wont' unless there is serious arm twisting..

It is a lot of money , almost same as teh equity in the matrimonial home. He was the saver whiile I was naturally paying and covering needs and shopping and furnishing our place etc..

Also low mortgage rate meant he was putting savings elsewhere rather than paying mortgage.

HiThe power that the court has is to issue a Penal Notice saying that he must produce the closing statements by a certain day.If he fails to do so then you can apply to have him committed to prison for Contempt of Court.You are aware of the existence of the accounts and of their previous contents perfectly properly because of the way matters were conducted in the home - so you are fully justified in asking for the proper details - making it very likely that the court will grant your applicationplease ask if you need further detailsClare

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